Week 11!

PreK: Week 3 of our BEARS unit.

As always, we begin with the Hello Song. This week, the bear unit included a bear walk around the library, with Teacher Bear and Student Bears. Why? More movement! More interaction! More BEARS! And what a coincidence that they’ve started bear walks in PE!

For this week, there was a lot of action. After reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, we acted out the story with these fantastic (free) printable cards. I handed each student an animal card (duplicate if needed), then they came up to the front when their animal was read in the story. In We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, we moved our hands (and bodies!) all around to the motions of the story. It was a wiggle-free, yet movement-filled, class!

Grades K/1:

More Mac? Yes, please! Connecting Mac Barnett’s Count the Monkeys with our newest database, PebbleGo, was a seamless lesson. Students loved the interactive story (more than the pre-k students a few weeks ago) and were captivated by the content and features in PebbleGo. Can’t wait to have them explore whales with Mac’s Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem next week!

Grade 2:

With students studying Homes Around the World in their Social Studies curriculum, it was time to introduce the Learners Around the World unit. This will incorporate stories, map skills, databases, research, and – if we’re lucky – coding and creating media. This week’s database: CultureGrams. It’s a bit high for the average reader in the room, yet it has sections for “life as a kid” and “school”…so I read it aloud and we make it work.

Grade 3:

With Destiny being a royal pain in the rear (not it’s issue…a school-wide issue resulting in usernames/passwords changing at random), I ditched Destiny for a research-fueled/nonfiction lesson. Katherine Applegate’s Ivan: the remarkable true story of the shopping mall gorilla captivated the students last week. This week, I led the students on a research journey. Focus areas included keywords, reading web summaries, and looking at the source of information (Pinterest website vs Zoo Atlanta?). A pretty good lesson – and one that was my drop-in evaluation.

Grade 4:

This was busy, y’all. Following last week’s reading, students were ready to research. Armed with their iPads, they set off after a review of the 3 “articles” and a discussion of keyword and search strategies. I created my own handout – asking students to write keywords for each story, locate websites that are helpful (or not!), and decide if the story was TRUTH or LIE. More resources are found on the publisher’s page.

What: Book BINGO – a BINGO board devoted to reading different types of books.

When: Starting NOW. Or, in a school year, some time in October. This allows everyone time to settle in.

Where: Reading can happen ANYWHERE – at home, on the bus, in the car, on a plane, in class, in library.

How: With books. The books can be from home, from school, from your friends or teacher, from a bookstore or library. The books can be in English or another language that you read. The books can be read out loud to you or as an audiobook or as an e-book.

Why: Because the best way to get better at reading is by READING. And readers need to read a wider variety of books – not just chapter books, but also nonfiction, biographies, folklore, poetry, and different genres. This year, my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders will get to do Book BINGO.

Choose a column to get started. This is the initial goal: to read a book for each square in the column.

Read a book that matches one of the categories listed on the squares. When you’ve finished reading the book, cross off the square AND write the title on the back of the BINGO board.

Repeat 1-2.

When a column is finished, let the librarian know. She’ll likely stamp it with a snazzy library due-date stamp…and check in with you on what you’re reading.

Start a new column and keep reading!

The commonly asked questions:

But are there rewards?: Yes. Rewards are for everyone who completes a column. Students will be called and recognized at the monthly school assembly. (Side note: public recognition in front of one’s peers is a powerful reward)

Can I get more than one reward?: Yes. Read all 6 columns, get recognized SIX times.

This is FREE?: Yes. I created these templates and made them available for free. 🙂

Are you doing Book BINGO too, Ms. Arika?: Yes. I’ll be doing Book BINGO along with my students, posting my reads in the hallway of the school.

Why are there are 3 versions of the BINGO board?: One version is for each grade. The smallest board (with 24 squares) is for grade 2, then 30 squares for grade 3, and 36 squares for grade 4.

How long does Book BINGO last?: We are reading until June…so all year long.

How do you copy them?: Front to back. I did the front side first, then loaded the paper back into the copier and did the back side. This kept the margin alignment on point.

And, possibly the biggest question: Does one book count for only one square?: That’s right. One book per square. You can’t use Harry Potter for fantasy AND first in a series AND book over 200 pages AND book by a British author. One book, one square…and lots of reading.

I hope you find this useful for you and your students. Make it match your readers and your audience (like the British author while I’m a #librarianinlondon). Cheers, y’all! –arika

These two stories were PERFECT for the PreK set. Sergio Ruzzier’s Two Mice was both simple and complex, as there were many places for inferencing and predicting. Mac Barnett’s Count the Monkeys was, as usual, an interactive gem. Picking books that give opportunities to talk and move will serve you (and your little learners) well!

K/1:

Continuing the Author Study with Peter Brown. The best part of this week’s lesson was the BRAIN question: what surprised you? So many surprises, from Tiger walking on all four legs to getting undressed to going back to the city. Open ended questions like these allow all students to participate without fear of being “wrong”.

Notice that this week, I left off the bottom of the spine label AND the period from the underlined title. This was a teachable moment – it took about 90 seconds and will be part of the review for the next 2-3 months.

Grade 2:

First: reading for the sake of reading. No agenda, no questions, no work…purely a story to enjoy.

Next: Book BINGO! More about that HERE.

Know that some of the BINGO sections were chosen to match last week’s Scavenger Hunt. Students should now know where to find Fairy/Folk Tales, series, nonfiction. Next time, I’ll add biographies and poetry to the hunt!

After sharing the goals of BINGO, I booktalked 2-4 titles that would be great fits for their BINGO board. From titles like Ready, Freddy! to Bunjitsu Bunny to Mercy Watson, many books were getting checked out to support the BINGO board.

Grades 3/4:

Same as grade 2: reading for the sake of reading. No agenda, no work: students LOVED AKR’s Exclamation Mark. (side note: so do I!)

Book BINGO was the big lesson, followed by booktalks and goal-setting (which BINGO column would be their first to tackle).

Some background: SO many of these students wanted to know why we weren’t doing Battle of the Books (which was done by the previous librarian). Short answer: because we’re doing something that allows everyone to participate. Longer answer: BINGO supports all language learners as books can be read in any language. It allows students to achieve success if they move mid-year. Extra copies of the same books don’t need to be purchased. Books can be in any language and from anywhere. MORE books and a wider variety of books are read with Book BINGO than in Battle (where the same 6 titles are repeatedly read). No class time is needed to run BINGO, as compared to Battle. No extra meetings need to take place. Diverse titles are supported in BINGO (though, as an international school, diversity is already a big part of their lives). I love that everyone – adults and students alike – can participate and succeed and grow with Book BINGO!

New unit: COUNTING. We started with The Name Song, then did the Little Mouse, Little Mouse color/counting/guessing rhyme from last week (note: I always hide the mouse before they come in. My pieces are magnetic, too). They were so excited to play this game again! We’ll use it one more time before changing it up. Patterns and repetition works with the littles.

Made in my long-ago days as a preschool storytime librarian!

Stories included another Pete the Cat – this time, with his four groovy buttons. And Doreen Cronin’s counting adventure Click Clack, Splish Splash gave good opportunity to talk about what was actually happening in the story and why it was happening. Why were the ducks sneaking? Why was it important that the farmer was sleeping? Building in opportunities for children to think and wonder about their reading at a young age will serve them well as they grow as readers.

You may notice our main slide doesn’t include much of this work. Why? Too many words/images. I keep it simple for the pre-K’s visual needs. More isn’t always better.

Grades K&1:

Author study: Peter Brown. Intro song: The Name Song. This week: My Teacher is a Monstert! (no, I am not). No image was put on the slide…and here’s why: I forgot! Noticing this error before the class came in, I could’ve added it, but I chose to use it as a thinking question moment. After sitting down, students talked with knee-neighbors about what they think a teacher-monster would look like. Ideas included sharp teeth, rough skin, purple or green, big size, pointy nails and more. This was a perfect way to build an open-ended question into the lesson and engage all students.

Know that each week, prior to check out, we review expectations related to self-checkout and locating books (using our shelf marker, how to scan the barcodes, etc). It takes 2-3 minutes, but I’m taking time at the beginning to reinforce and review. One of my favorite sayings in teaching is “go slow to go fast.” Slow down at the beginning of the year (and week 5 is still the beginning!) and work with intention to teach the skills and behaviors you really value and that will ultimately benefit the child.

Grades 2, 3, 4:

Emoji Scavenger Hunt! After last year’s Pokemon Go to the Library hunt, I chose to edit the clues and streamline the hunt into a single hunt for all grades. What I learned: it was perfect for grade 3 learners, a little too easy for grade 4 and too long (though not too hard) for grade 2. But, my assessment was informal: at the end, students were asked if they found a space in the library that they didn’t know about…and 95% of students answered YES. Success, even if they didn’t complete the hunt.

Students did the hunt with a teacher-selected partner. The reasons partners are teacher-selected are many, but the big ones are: 1 – it eliminates fretting over “who will be my partner?”; 2 – it keeps kids focused on directions, as they’re not fretting about finding a partner; 3 – students who need specific partners (a strong reader with a student who struggles; a student who speaks Italian with the student who speaks multiple languages) can be placed together and not left out.

Full procedures for how to do the hunt are found in the Pokemon link above, including a timeline of how it looks in a 40 minute class.

This year there was a bonus question: if students finished early, they were to think of a clue I could’ve asked. There were some great ones: where the family photos are hanging, where the daily directions are found, a cozy spot with a rooftop. These are all places in our library that they found important and meaningful. I’d also include the E section (who knows why I left it out!), poetry, and more nonfiction.

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Last year, I missed out on the chance to connect with other teacher-librarians celebrating Dot Day across the US / world. This year, remembering missed opportunity, I had a prime opportunity to connect with schools in North America…and I didn’t miss out!

Due to time changes and class schedules, only 3rd and 4th grades were able to Skype/Google Hangout for Dot Day. How’d we do it? This Google Doc. And by getting my name and location out there, other t-l’s across the US have been in contact so that we can connect over Global Read Aloud and other events.

In a lovely turn of events, all technology worked for each Skype/Hangout! I’ve had some serious tech hurdles at the new school, making this turn of events much appreciated.

What’d we do?

PreK

Theme: CATS

It’s not on the white board, but we warmed up with The Name Song, followed by the storytime favorite Einy Meiny Miny Mouse flannelboard (which I do with magnet pieces). LOVE that I saved some of these from my long-ago years at YCL in South Carolina (and brought them to London!).

Our story: Kevin Henkes’s Kitten’s First Full Moon. Why this? It not only fit the theme of CATS (a kitten is a baby cat, which we discussed), and the full moon looks a lot like a DOT! This wiggly bunch was mesmerized by the kitten’s story. After, each child made a dot for the kitten, which was then brought to life as part of a whole-group experience using Quiver’s AR app.

K/1:

International Dot Day! We read The Dot, then created dots as creatively as possible.

As the school library is crunched for space, I sourced clipboards for children to color on and handed out 2 crayons per child. They could share their crayons (or not) and color anything their hearts desired. As a whole group, I used the Quiver AR app to bring their dots from flat circles to 3D spheres for the whole group to see and appreciate using an iPad that connected to the AppleTV. Bonus: the K’s are studying shapes in their classroom!

Grade 2:

More Dot Day fun!Learning from my first lesson – where students brought their own iPad to the library to use with their dot – the second lesson I structured like the K/1 lesson in that I brought their work to life. Similar to last year, students wrote a word to describe who they wanted to be this year. Favorite words included: kind, nice, respectful, creative, happy.

Grades 3&4:

With 40 min (grade 3) and 60 min (grade 4) class times, lessons weren’t the same. If we had time, students made AR dots; if not, dots were sent home after a quick how-to tutorial (all students in grades 3&4 have school-issued iPads that can go home, and the app was pre-downloaded). All classes heard the The Dot and connected with a different elementary library in the US. Some classes had a Mystery Skype, others had a co-reading of The Dot, while still others had a share session of Dot Day creations.

We were lucky enough to connect with learners in Maryland (2 schools), Vermont, Kansas, and Alabama. And, in case you’re wondering, these were all new connections for me – I knew no one at these schools! My students guessed that the connections were coming from places I’d lived – WA, GA, and LA – and they were so surprised to discover new places across the US. One of the best moments was when a student here in London realized the school in Vermont was not far from where he used to live! Another great one was when we were asked, during a Mystery Skype, whether we lived east or west of the Prime Meridian. We’re almost exactly on top of it AND a student was wearing a t-shirt from the official Prime Meridian gift shop…making for some amazed looks.

Perhaps, though, it was the reactions that were the best. My students have the gift of experiencing a bigger world than most kids: almost all of them have travelled extensively and attended schools in at least one other country. That wasn’t the case for the schools we Skyped – these were kids that, almost exclusively, had attended the same school since birth. Watching the realization set in that we were not in the US – that we were in London – was a true gift. I am so thankful I could help broaden their world while living and teaching abroad.

Now, back to reality. Dot Day, I’ll be back next year. I cannot wait to connect with more learners across the US and world!

Week 3 is in the books. With fewer classes than in previous years, it makes sense to combine grade levels to teach certain skills.

PreK

We warmed up with The Hello Name Song (thanks to Stephanie, the best music teacher ever for this hack!), with index cards for each child pre-placed on the floor. Doing this alleviates drama in locating a seat, gives a set way to begin class as the children walk in, and helps me (and them!) to learn names. Here’s a peek of how it looks with the K class:

Theme unit: CATS (because why not?). We talked about animals cats like and don’t like as our lead-in.

They LOVED Splat the Cat, and we had good discussion about how Splat felt using our Emoji Mood Meter. Hairy MacLairy, while full of rhyme and repetition, wasn’t as well-received. To be honest, this was likely because I wasn’t feeling the story. I chose it because the school has a complete collection of the books. Bad choice. Read what you love, and the lesson will likely be better for it. I know better and will do better next week.

Kindergarten/Grade1

Begin with The Hello Name Song.

Unit: SEL / Dogs / Intro Author Study

After last week’s Dog & Bear discussion, we continued talking about how characters DO THEIR BEST with Peter Brown’s Chowder. With a whizz-bang first illustration (the dog is on the toilet!), this story has the students in rapt attention. The brain question of the week was tied to the school&life behavior expectations I teach in the library (BE KIND. BE SAFE. DO YOUR BEST. HELP THE REST.). Even though the school hasn’t adopted those sayings, I continue to repeat them whenever I see the children in the building. How did Chowder do his best? He didn’t give up when the ball got stuck in the tree. He kept trying to find friends. He played kickball his best.

Chowder also lent itself to a wonderful SEL (social-emotional learning) discussion. As he’s excluded by other dogs, as he struggles with making a mistake, we consulted the Emoji Mood Meter to place Chowder’s moods. SEL can happen in the library with a little bit of planning and the willingness to have the discussion. Note that I don’t announce “we’re doing a SEL-themed lesson”…this is an unwritten, yet very purposeful, intention in many PreK/K/1 lessons.

Grade 2

SCIENCE TIME! With a unit of States of Matter happening in their classrooms, it was the perfect time to introduce Arnold Lobel’s Owl at Home. With solids, liquids, and gases represented in the first story, The Guest, our conversation was rich.

Taking inspiration from Kyleen Beers & Robert Proubt’s Divergent Thinking, the BRAIN icon was introduced with a question stem from the book. Asking children, “What surprised you?” was surprising in itself: one class had very flat answers while another had rich, thoughtful insight. What a gift when professional reading works in daily life – and, in one case, with great results. This is one resource I’ll continue to mine and incorporate into the library.

Grade 3/4

First up: booktalks! As independent reading is the root of academic success, I’m aiming to increase the amount of books read. One way to build interest and excitement is by booktalking. Looking over the reading survey results from last week, I tailored the booktalks to the interests of the students. Series like Ranger in Time and Bunjitsu Bunny were very popular, as were books like The Terrible Two, We Can’t All Aren’t Rattlesnakes, Crenshaw, and The Wild Robot.

The day’s big goal, though, was PASSWORDS. With Destiny logins in our future – and no central IT that sets student passwords – I chose to instruct on how to construct a STRONG or WEAK password and allow them to write their own. There was a recent article in the Wall Street Journal on how to best make a password – and it changes the rules. Short version: write a short, 3-4 word sentence that’s important to you. Boom: strong password. The sentence can have a capital letter and punctuation, too. Less gibberish = easier to remember. WIN!

Exit tickets had students writing their own password which were checked for clarity prior to the end of class.

Note: All classes did self check out, and 4th grade had 20 minutes to independently read (as their class lasts 1 hour). I sit with them during this time, reading a book, while intermittently walking around the room to check what everyone is reading and – if not reading – recommending a quick read (like a TOON graphic novel). This worked so well for 2 4th grade EAL students in one class that they checked out the recommended quick read to read again at home!